ASI:  Trowley Bottom
by phoebenpiper
Summary: Summary:  Connor is beginning to realise that being an Anomaly Site Investigator isn't quite as sexy as it seems.  After an afternoon in Trowley Bottom, he wonders if it's all really worth it.  Set in the middle of Series 1 between episodes 4 & 5.


**ASI: Trowley Bottom **- a Primaeval fanfic

by phoebenpiper

Summary: Connor is beginning to realise that being an Anomaly Site Investigator isn't quite as sexy as it seems, and after an afternoon in Trowley Bottom, he wonders if it's all really worth it.

[Author's Note: This is set in the middle of Series 1 between episodes 4 & 5. I got the idea for this story when I was at a crime scene - it made it less boring to think of Connor going through it all!]

...

ABBY MAITLAND'S FLAT

1PM

Connor was having a great day! Last night he'd stayed up late talking to Abby about nothing in particular, which he believed was absolutely the best topic for late-night chats with his flatmate! After sleeping in, he'd spent the rest of the morning at the library doing research on magnetism, trying to develop some theories for the Professor about what might be causing the anomalies. He hadn't had much success on the theory front, but he'd run into Duncan and made plans for tonight. Connor hadn't really seen his friend much since Tom's death because of being so busy with the anomalies, but they'd made plans to get together later tonight to do a memorial raid in Tom's honour.

Coming home around 1pm, Connor found some leftover manicotti in the fridge. He had no idea where it'd come from, but it was tasty, as was the garlic bread that he found on the counter. He plopped down on the couch to eat and flicked on the telly just in time to catch the beginning of one of his favourite episodes of _Deep Space Nine_.

By the time they had fixed the transporters and rescued everyone from Bashir's Bond-like holosuite program, Connor could barely control his yawning. As the closing credits scrolled, he grabbed the remote and turned it off before lying down. All alone in the flat, it was the perfect time for a kip, especially since he envisioned their raid going rather late tonight.

As he closed his eyes, an image of Abby in her knickers suddenly surfaced in his brain. He'd thought that, after staying at her place for a few weeks, he'd grow accustomed to the way she often roamed about the warm flat without proper clothes on, but instead he'd found himself thinking about her more and more. It wasn't just that she looked right sexy in her brightly coloured vest and pants, though that certainly didn't hurt. But there was something about her...something that he couldn't quite put his finger on...that made him know that she was the one for him.

Though at the moment, all he cared about was the scantily clad image of her that was smiling seductively at him from under his closed lids.

He was thus distracted when his mobile rang. By the time he'd become aware of the ring and leapt off the couch to answer it, the call had already gone to voice mail. He noticed the number was Abby's and suddenly felt guilty, as if she'd somehow sensed he'd been fantasizing about her. He waited a moment before checking his voice mail:

"Connor, it's Abby. Cutter just called - there's another anomaly. However, it doesn't look like there's any creatures to deal with, so he said we don't need to come if we don't want to. If you're interested, give me a ring back; if you're not, just pretend you didn't get this message."

Connor instantly hit Abby's number, and it wasn't till she answered that he realised that he hadn't yet decided if he really wanted to go.

"So you got my message?" Abby answered. "This mean you're interested in going?"

Connor paused, trying to make up his mind. He really wanted...no, he really NEEDED...that kip. And if the Professor didn't need them, why give up his evening plans with Duncan?

DUNCAN!

"I have a raid with Duncan tonight," he blurted out.

"Alright, so you don't want to go?"

"But I DO!" He was totally torn and didn't know what to do. "Ugh! Why does this always have to happen to me?"

He heard Abby laugh on the other end of the line. "Tough decision, huh?"

Connor sighed in resignation, grumbling, "I guess I'll go."

"You don't have to, Connor. Really. Cutter said it was okay if we didn't show."

"But I WANT to go," Connor said, his voice almost coming out as a whine. "I just hate not being able to plan ahead. I mean, how are we expected to have a real life?"

"And you'd planned on playing video games tonight?" Connor failed to note the sarcasm in Abby's voice.

He sighed again. "But I guess this is more important. I mean, real lives at stake, not just avatars. S'pose we should go, yeah?"

"The decision's entirely up to you. I'm planning to go regardless, so just let me know. I can swing by and pick you up on my way if you want."

That clinched it. "Sounds good. Let's do this thing."

...

TROWLEY BOTTOM

ANOMALY SITE

3PM

As Abby turned the corner, they saw several non-descript black transit vans parked on either side of the road about half a kilometer ahead.

"This must be the place," Connor said, the adrenaline starting to course through him. He'd been groggy for most of the ride, still not quite recovered from missing his kip, but now that they'd arrived, his sleepiness was suddenly gone.

Abby pulled the Mini over in front of a soldier standing guard at the yellow Caution tape stretched across a dirt driveway. She rolled down her window and explained, "We're part of the research team," as Connor reached across her, flashing his badge. The soldier nodded and lifted up the tape so that Abby could pull the car through.

"That'll never get old," Connor said with a grin.

"What'd you mean?" Abby asked.

"Flashing a badge and getting to pass through Caution tape. It's so _X-Files_! I mean, how many people actually get to do that?"

Abby smiled, shaking her head as she pulled up the long drive. They passed by several farms and fields of livestock before finally coming to the team's staging area. Cutter and Stephen were already there, and Connor saw Claudia standing next to Captain Ryan under the awning of a large military transit van. Connor smiled to himself - while a kip would've felt good, nothing could beat this feeling of excitement and anticipation.

Abby parked behind the van, and she and Connor walked over to join Stephen and the Professor.

"You came," Cutter said, acknowledging them with an appreciative nod.

"How could we skip it?" Connor asked. "I love being pulled out of bed for this sort of thing." He noticed the strange looks the others gave him and quickly explained, "Well, pulled off the couch, to be more accurate."

"So what's the story?" Abby asked.

Cutter pointed to the front door of the large one-storey mansion that looked nothing like the simple farmhouse one would expect out here in the middle of nowhere. Of course, one also wouldn't expect to find at the top of the porch, where the front door should be, a bright, flickering light.

"The homeowner was having a quiet morning at home, watching cricket, when he was suddenly attacked from behind," the Professor explained.

Abby frowned. "You told me there weren't any creatures this time."

"There weren't," Cutter said.

"The man was attacked by, quote, 'hairy, half-naked men'," Stephen continued. "Supposedly one had a club and one had what the victim described as a giant bone."

Connor laughed. "Cavemen? That's brilliant."

The Professor, however, wasn't laughing. "The man ended up in hospital. He was severely beaten - a skull fracture, not to mention several broken ribs."

"Ow," Connor cringed at the thought.

"So where are they now?" Abby asked. "The cavemen, I mean."

"Luckily the man was lucid enough to see the two men exit back through the 'alien light'," Cutter explained.

"But we can't be certain they were the only ones," Claudia chimed in, she and Ryan having joined them. "And we have no idea if anything came out the other way."

Stephen shook his head. "The neighbours didn't report anything strange. And all the livestock in the surrounding farms seem all right. If there were creatures, we'd know."

"But we can't be one-hundred-percent certain," Claudia insisted. "We need to conduct a thorough search and tbe prepared for anything."

Connor saw the Professor open his mouth to protest but then reluctantly shut it again. Connor smiled to himself - he knew Cutter never would've let Lester have the last word.

"So can we see inside?" Abby asked. "Assuming there's something to see."

"Oh, there's something to see," Stephen replied.

Cutter nodded. "I'll take you guys through to the back."

The team followed Cutter around the outer perimeter of the large house.

"What does this guy do for a living?" Connor asked, gawking at the eclectic but obviously expensive items stretched out along the back porch, including an elaborately decorated Rococo-style porch swing and a modern art fountain with water gurgling out of rather an obscene place in its abstract statue.

Stephen shook his head. "I'm not sure what he does, but just wait till you see his collections."

The team entered through a sliding door into an open dining area between a kitchen and a gaming room. The marble-topped billiard table was sitting at an angle, two of its legs having been broken off, and both the wood and the felt showed evidence of having been battered by heavy objects. Connor noticed what looked like footprints in blood around the pool table and leading out into the hallway. He followed them to the front hall, where the trail branched into two, one set of bloody prints leading directly towards the anomaly whilst the other led into the sunken parlor.

It was clear where the man had been sitting when he was attacked - the easy chair was soaked with blood, and Connor could even see some spatter on the wall behind it. There was also shattered glass all over the floor from where the plasma telly had been smashed.

"There must've been a bad call by the refs," Connor joked, trying to ignore the strong stench of blood in the room.

"See it from their side, Connor," Abby said. "How would you feel if you were a caveman and suddenly saw near-life-sized men flickering inside a box? It must've been terrifying for them."

"There seems to be a lot of blood," Claudia said quietly, and Connor noticed that she looked rather green.

Abby looked to Cutter, asking, "You said the man received a skull fracture, yeah?" When he nodded, she turned back to Claudia, explaining, "Head wounds tend to bleed a lot, though all told he probably didn't lose more than a litre or two."

Claudia nodded, but clearly the scientific explanation didn't help her queasiness any.

Cutter must've noticed as well for he took Claudia by the elbow and started to lead her back towards the sliding door, offering, "Let's get you some fresh air."

Embarrassment immediately set in, turning Claudia's cheeks to a healthy pink as she insisted, "I'm fine. Really. Don't worry about me."

As Cutter continued to escort Claudia outside, Connor's attention was drawn away from them. Stephen was over by the anomaly, kneeling down and studying the bloody footprints as only a tracker could.

Stephen frowned in concentration, causing Abby to walk over, asking, "What is it?"

The tracker shook his head. "The man claimed there were only two attackers, right?"

"That's what Cutter said," Connor replied, kneeling down next to them so as not to feel left out.

"But you think there were more?" Abby prompted Stephen when he didn't continue right away.

"Not necessarily more attackers," Stephen said, "but I think more came through. Look at the prints here in front of the anomaly."

As Connor and Abby followed Stephen's gaze, Connor for the first time actually took a good look at the prints.

Abby must've been struck by the same thing for she exclaimed, "Look how small they are!"

"Poor blokes," Connor joked, "you know what they say about the size of a man's feet."

"Whatever, Connor," Abby grumbled, elbowing him in the ribs so he nearly fell over. "Besides, don't they say that about hands, not feet?"

"Same difference," Connor said.

He'd hoped that Stephen would back him up, but the tracker was still too busy obsessing over the prints. "See how there seem to be a lot of overlapping prints right here?" Stephen said, gesturing to an area right in front of the anomaly.

Until this moment, Connor had never noticed what large hands Stephen had; Connor now self-consciously stuffed his own fingerless-gloved hands into his pockets, hoping Abby wouldn't notice.

"Yeah?" Abby asked, clearly not following Stephen's line of thought. "What about them?"

"I think some others came through the anomaly shortly after the attack to see things for themselves. It must've been whilst the blood was still wet in order for their prints to be recorded, but I definitely think that others came through."

"And did they leave again?" Connor asked, suddenly glancing over his shoulder, nervously expecting to be pummeled by a club.

Stephen shrugged. "I can't say. But due to the limited nature of the damage to the house, I doubt they stuck around."

"So, Stephen," Cutter asked, joining them once again in the hall, "what do you think?"

"Based on the tracks and the man's description, I'd definitely say Paleolithic Age, probably _Homo erectus_."

Connor couldn't help but snigger, eliciting a glare and a whisper from Abby: "How old are you?"

Cutter nodded. "We should really document their tracks. Connor, did you bring a camera?"

"Huh?" Connor said. "Oh, camera. Right. It's in the car." Even though Claudia had not been keen on them taking photos at other anomaly sites, Connor had continued to bring the camera to each one, just in case at some point she changed her mind. "But...uh...am I allowed to take photos?"

Cutter nodded. "I'll sort it out."

...

TROWLEY BOTTOM

ANOMALY SITE

4PM

As Claudia and the Professor continued to argue by the transit van, Connor went and grabbed the camera from the car. Before he'd left, he'd noticed that the battery was low and had thought to bring both an extra one and the charger, though he now wondered where he could get the electricity for it. With his rucksack in hand, he walked over to Captain Ryan, asking, "I don't s'pose there's anyplace I can plug this in?"

Ryan shrugged. "Sure." He walked over to the transit van and flipped a cover on the outside, exposing an electrical outlet.

"Super cool!" Connor said, digging the battery out and plugging in the charger. He then turned on the camera and attempted to take a preliminary photo of the house and its anomaly, but the shutter didn't click. Connor glanced at the digital read-out - no memory card was inside.

A vague memory of pulling the card out to download photos from Abby's behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo suddenly flashed through his mind, and he now remembered having seen the card still in the computer when he'd logged on this morning.

He sighed in frustration, feeling like an idiot. How could he tell Cutter that he'd thought to bring the camera but not a memory card?

He sidled up the Ryan again, asking sheepishly, "I don't suppose, by any chance, you happen to have a compact flash card I could borrow?"

Ryan nodded. "Those are the ones about yea big, right?" he asked, gesturing with his fingers. When Connor nodded, the soldier continued, "I think we have some in the transit van. Right-hand side, near the front, on the top, I think. Take whatever you need."

"Really?" Connor couldn't believe his luck - no one else would need to know about his stupid mistake.

He hurried over to the back of the transit van, climbing up the two steps to reach the door. Opening it, he practically fell backwards off the steps, amazed by what he saw. The inside of the van was more like an organised warehouse than a vehicle. A center aisle led down the middle, with counters running along either side with cabinets both above and below. Connor's first impulse was to open every single cabinet and see what kit the military carried with them. However, he didn't fancy getting caught nosing where he shouldn't, especially by someone carrying an automatic weapon and trained to kill! So he tried to remember where Ryan had said to look and started there.

The top right front cabinet was filled with assorted batteries, chargers, and wires, and Connor wondered if they could rig a MacGyver-like bomb with all the components.

"You find it?"

Connor felt his heart stop a moment as Captain's Ryan voice suddenly filled the van. He was instantly grateful he hadn't been looking where he wasn't supposed to.

"Yep," Connor said, pulling out a plastic container labeled "Camera cards" and sorting through until he found the correct kind. "Thanks very much."

Ryan nodded and shut the door behind him as Connor took a deep breath, trying to slow his breathing from the sudden adrenaline rush.

As Connor exited the military vehicle, he saw Lester and another official-looking man in a suit approaching. Connor could tell that the others couldn't see them coming, and he knew how vocal the Professor could be about his dislike for the bureaucrat, especially when arguing with Claudia, so Connor gave a quick attention-getting whistle and announced, "Guys in ties approaching."

The team turned and all looked at him blankly.

"Guizentise?" Cutter repeated in his thick brogue.

Claudia turned to the Professor, asking, "Is that a creature?"

Connor shook his head and repeated more slowly, "No. Guys. In. Ties."

Abby frowned. "We still don't follow, Connor."

Connor sighed in frustration, but there was no point in trying to explain again, as Lester and the other man were just making their appearance around the side of the transit van. Connor gestured emphatically towards them, pantomiming their neckwear as he said once more, "See? Guys...in ties."

Lester glared at Connor before commenting, "It's nice to see you all playing a lovely game of charades this sunny afternoon. And some people think that the work we do here is unnecessary."

Connor tried to fade into the background as the Professor and Claudia began to fill in the government men on the current situation. He noticed Abby and Stephen off near the garage and headed their way, wondering what they were up to.

Approaching them, he noticed two dogs - a Golden Retriever and a chocolate Lab - inside a kennel.

"Aw. How cute!" Connor said, reaching through the chainlink and petting them. "They belong to the owner?"

Abby nodded. "I assume so. I gave them some water, but I couldn't find their food. With the owner in hospital, I don't know what we should do with them when we leave - it doesn't seem right just to abandon them here alone."

"I'm on it," Stephen said, walking off towards Captain Ryan.

Abby watched him go, an almost worshipful smile on her face, making Connor wish he'd been the one with the plan.

...

TROWLEY BOTTOM

ANOMALY SITE

6PM

The sun was setting, and it was starting to get cold. The afternoon had been surprisingly bright and sunny, but the heat of the day was already gone and a cold wind was picking up, causing Connor to shiver.

Claudia approached him, asking, "There's no indication that the anomaly will be closing any time soon, is there?"

Connor checked his compass, which was still going crazy. "Nope. Still strong as ever."

Claudia bit her lip for a moment before mumbling to herself, "That's what I was afraid of."

Connor gave her a questioning look and she quickly explained, "It looks like we're going to be here for awhile, which means we really ought to be thinking about supper." Her eyes suddenly twinkled as she got an idea; she put her hand on Connor's elbow and asked, "Would you mind doing me a huge favour?"

Connor nodded - he loved feeling needed, and he hadn't been getting much of that today, especially after Lester had put the kibosh on him taking photos. "Anything," he answered eagerly.

"Can I put you in charge of food detail?"

"Food detail?" Connor's excitement was instantly deflated. "Since when am I the Xander?" he practically whined.

Claudia raised a inquisitive eyebrow. "'The Xander'?"

"You know, Xander. From _Buffy_? _The Vampire Slayer_?"

Claudia gave an apologetic grin as she shook her head. "Sorry. No clue."

Connor let out a frustrated sigh. Why was it that no one on the team ever seemed to get any of his cultural references? It wasn't like he was quoting something obscure, like episodes with the first Doctor!

"Xander had no paranormal skills," Connor explained, "so he was always being sent off to do mundane errands while everyone else got to save the world."

"I doubt there'll be any world-saving today, Connor. And you don't have to go anywhere - one of Ryan's men will pick up the food. You only need to figure out the orders and text them in - you know, organise it all."

Connor grinned - he couldn't believe he was actually being put in charge of something so important. "No problem. I can handle it."

"Thank you!" Claudia said. "I'd do it myself, only the thought of food right now..." She trailed off as that greenish pallor he'd noticed earlier returned to her face.

"Not a big fan of steak tartare, yeah?" Connor teased, but when he saw how nauseous she looked, he quickly apologised. "Sorry. I guess blood's not your thing."

Claudia shook her head, swallowing hard. She then gave Connor a confidential look as she said quietly, "Please don't mention it to Nick."

"Nothing to mention," Connor said with a shrug. "We all get bothered by stuff."

Claudia smiled, mouthing, "Thank you," to him as the Professor walked up.

Connor shook his head. It was pathetic how obvious some people were about who they fancied. He could definitely give Claudia a lesson or two on how to play it cool.

"Hey, Abby," he said, hurrying over to the blonde girl as she petted the dogs in the kennel. "Guess what? I've been put in charge of food detail!"

Abby gave him a wary look. "And that's a good thing?"

"Well, yeah! I get to be in charge. How cool is that?"

Abby nodded, smiling. "Congratulations. But just be careful - you don't want to screw it up."

"It's food, Abby. How hard can it be?"

The wind suddenly picked up again, causing Connor to shiver.

"Why don't you go put on your coat?" Abby suggested.

"I didn't bring one."

"Didn't bring one?" Abby repeated, somewhat incredulous.

Connor shrugged. "Didn't think I'd need one." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realised how incredibly stupid he sounded, considering how much time they'd spent outside at other anomaly sites.

The wind blew again, and he noticed Abby was starting to look cold, too.

Therefore he was surprised when she suddenly began to strip off her jumper. "Here. Take this."

"Abby, no. I can't take your jumper. You're cold with it on - it wouldn't be right."

"Take it, Connor," she said, her teeth starting to chatter as she stood there in short sleeves, holding the jumper out to him. "My coat is in the car, so I can wear that."

"Abby, I can't." Connor felt too embarrassed to rob her of it.

"Connor!"

He realised that she wasn't going to leave to get her coat until he took the jumper, and she looked about to turn blue, so he grabbed it, mumbling an embarrassed, "Thanks, Abby."

As she hurried off towards the car, Stephen walked past, commenting, "It's nice to see chivalry isn't completely dead."

Connor sighed, making a mental note never to forget his coat again, before remembering he had an important job to do.

...

TROWLEY BOTTOM

ANOMALY SITE

7PM

By the time Connor exited through the sliding glass door once again, it had grown completely dark outside. He kicked himself for not thinking to bring a torch and hoped Abby had one in the Mini. He stumbled his way back around in the darkness, tripping over an unseen garden hose stretched across the pavement.

As he rounded the front corner of the house, a bitterly cold wind hit him in the face. He shivered, more than ever thankful for Abby's jumper, despite the ribbing he'd taken from Stephen.

Because the anomaly was set back from the front of the porch, its light cast an ominous glow only upon a small strip such that he couldn't even see the rest of the team standing around the area.

"Why doesn't someone turn on the lights?" he joked.

Captain Ryan's voice sounded from the darkness, asking, "Do you want us to set up some lights?"

Connor chuckled, surprised someone had actually taken him seriously. "I was only joking, mate."

But Claudia seemed to like the idea. She shared a look with Cutter before replying, "Yes, that would be brilliant."

The soldier nodded to her before gesturing for Connor to follow him to the transit van. Ryan jumped into the back and then handed two lights down to Connor.

As Connor started to unwrap the leads from around the tripod-like stands, Ryan flicked a switch, causing a motorised noise to sound above them. Looking up, Connor was surprised to see the giant awning that had extended from the side of the vehicle, providing them with much-desired shade earlier when the sun had been beating down, now being automatically retracted.

"Pretty sexy stuff," Connor marvelled, constantly amazed by the kit the military travelled with. It was still hard to believe that he now worked with these military men. His friends would be so jealous, if only he could tell them. But shooting his mouth off hadn't worked so well previously, and he knew better than to try it again. But it didn't mean that he couldn't find it amazing that this was now his life - it was so worth skipping his kip for!

He then returned his attention to the lights and thus didn't even notice that the transit van was moving until he heard the beeping. He glanced up just in time to see the vehicle backing directly towards him! He grabbed the two lights and leapt backwards, falling flat on his back, his arms extended in the air so the lights wouldn't hit the ground. Ryan slammed on the brakes, calling out through the rolled down window, "Sorry."

"No problem, mate," Connor replied breathlessly, the wind having been partially knocked out of him.

As Ryan resumed his backing, the Professor walked over, taking one of the lights from Connor before offering him a friendly hand up. Connor then watched in amazement as the soldier flicked on giant flood lights atop the vehicle, lighting up the entire area as brightly as midday.

"Whoa!" Connor said. Gesturing to the small tripod light still in his hand, he asked, "So what do we need these for?"

Cutter pointed to an area that was shaded by the corner of the transit van, and he and Connor set up the lights there. As Cutter took the leads back towards the military vehicle to plug them in, Claudia approached Connor, asking, "It's getting late - how's the food coming along?"

"Oh, right," Connor said, remembering why he'd come back outside. He grabbed the notepad from his back pocket and said, "Change of plans - we're not doing pizza."

"Why not?" Cutter asked, joining them.

Connor gave a frustrated sigh. "No one could decide what kind to go with - Conrad wanted Pizza Hut, but Ardley insisted Pizza Express was tastier. Pizza's pizza, as far as I'm concerned, but whatever. And then there was a huge row over toppings: Goldman doesn't eat pork, Rosten hates prawns, and Knightley is a vegan - can you believe it? No cheese or anything! I don't know where he gets his muscles from if he doesn't-"

"Connor," Claudia interrupted, trying to get him back on track. "So if pizza's out, what are you doing instead?"

"I'm taking orders for Wimpy's. What'll you guys have?" he asked, getting ready to jot down their orders on his notepad.

"Wimpy's?" Cutter asked.

Claudia looked confused. "Hamburgers? But what about Knightley?"

Connor shrugged. "It was his suggestion. Apparently they have some spicy beanburger which he raved about. Said it's canellini and red kidney beans, with spices and loads of ketchup and-"

"Connor." Claudia was looking positively green, and Connor suddenly remembered why he'd been put in charge of the food in the first place.

"Right. Sorry," he said, giving her a sympathetic look. "So...you want anything?"

Claudia shook her head emphatically, eliciting a concerned look from the Professor.

In order to distract him, Connor quickly asked, "How about you, Professor? A cheeseburger? Maybe a Bender? Or fish and chips? What sounds good?"

He watched Claudia hurry away, obviously not in the mood to hear any more about food. He felt bad for causing her more queasiness, but he was at least pleased he'd averted Cutter's attention from her momentarily.

After getting the orders from the Professor as well as Captain Ryan and the few soldiers remaining in the area, Connor realised he hadn't gotten Abby's order yet. In fact, it had been ages since he'd seen her about.

"Have you lot seen Abby anywheres?" he asked.

Claudia shook her head. "Not recently."

"Perhaps she's inside, staying out of the cold," Cutter suggested.

Connor shook his head. "I was just in there - didn't see her." But now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Stephen for ages, either. It then occurred to Connor that he'd only been in the front hall earlier - he hadn't bothered to investigate the rest of the house, the hallways...or the bedrooms. Perhaps the two of them were somewhere inside. Together. Alone.

"I'll...uh...check inside again," he said, hurrying back around the perimeter. But rounding the corner, he suddenly realised he'd forgotten once again to grab a torch. His eyes were now so used to the bright lights that he had a hard time adjusting to the darkness and once again tripped over the garden hose. He hurried inside the sliding door, made his way past the soldiers standing sentry in the front hall, and started down the hallway. However, as his brain caught up with his actions, he began to wonder if looking for Abby and Stephen was such a good idea - after all, if they were alone together somewhere, did he really want to walk in on them?

He was ruminating on what to do when he noticed the curio cabinet standing in the hallway outside the master bedroom. The cabinet was filled with Royal memorabilia, including an entire shelf with mementos from Charles and Di's wedding and another with keepsakes from the Queen's Jubilee. Connor then noticed that a door off to the right was open so he wandered in there - hunting gear hung all over the walls whilst glassed shelves in one corner housed a ceramic thimble collection.

Stephen had mentioned that the man was a collector, but Connor certainly wasn't expecting this. He began wandering from room to room, looking at the eclectic assortment of items the owner collected. One room, which might've been a child's bedroom, had over thirty model airplanes suspended from the ceiling, and another housed vases, some of which appeared priceless. The music room was filled with shadow boxes of tickets and signed theatre programmes from the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Connor was thrilled to discover autographs from "Mrs. Peel", "Gandalf", and "Captain Picard". Even better, the master bedroom contained numerous framed pictures of girly pin-ups from the 1950s, the kind where the girls all looked coyly surprised to suddenly find themselves topless. Gazing at these, Connor couldn't help but smile as he thought about Abby.

Abby! He'd forgotten that she was the reason that he'd come back inside. However, he'd now been in every room of the house, and she and Stephen were clearly not anywhere inside. A part of him was relieved that he hadn't walked in on anything sordid, but he was now worried - where was she?

He hurried back outside and around to the front, but she was nowhere to be seen. Connor was starting to panic. Was she okay? Surely she hadn't been attacked by anything from the anomaly - there'd been soldiers standing guard for hours. But what if Claudia had been right - what if something had escaped earlier and it had quietly grabbed Abby and dragged her away? She could be hurt somewhere, and no one even seemed concerned.

Connor then suddenly had a thought. He pulled out his mobile and instantly punched in Abby's number. He heard her phone ringing in the distance, somewhere up the dark driveway, and he instantly ran off in that direction.

"Hello?"

Abby was just answering her phone as Connor got close enough to see two torches headed his direction. He rung off as he continued to run towards the lights, eager to confirm she was fine.

"Abby? Thank goodness," Connor said breathlessly as he reached her and Stephen, grateful that she didn't appear hurt. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Connor," Abby said, giving him a weird look.

"Where've you been? I've been looking everywhere for you. I thought..." He trailed off as his brain finally registered the fact that she had been alone with Stephen after all.

"It's okay, Connor," Abby reassured. "Nothing happened to me. The family just came to get the dogs."

Connor stared at her blankly.

"Dogs?"

Stephen nodded. "Abby was worried about the owner's dogs being left alone, so I called the family to come pick them up."

Connor wondered why the family hadn't simply come up to the house. Abby must've noticed his confused look for she explained further, "The driveway's blocked off, remember? The yellow tape that most people aren't allowed to pass through? So we had to walk the dogs out to them."

Connor slowly began to recall the long drive they'd taken from the yellow tape to the house and breathed a sigh of relief, realising there was a perfectly innocent reason for why she and Stephen had been gone so long.

"So," Stephen asked, "is the pizza here yet?"

As Connor finally remembered why he had gone in search of Abby in the first place, she added, "Please say it's here - I'm starving."

"Not yet. And it's Wimpy's now, not pizza - so what'll you have?"

...

TROWLEY BOTTOM

ANOMALY SITE

9:30PM

Connor was officially miserable.

First off, his feet were killing him. He'd been standing for almost seven hours straight now, and his feet were clearly not pleased by this. He was definitely going to need to get some better shoes, since he imagined he was going to be doing this sort of thing more and more.

He was also exhausted. The initial adrenaline had worn off hours ago, so his lack of an afternoon kip had finally caught up with him. He couldn't help yawning, and right now he just wanted to lie down and sleep.

In addition, he was cold, despite Abby's jumper. The wind had picked up even more so it was simply unbearable to be outside. Connor was thankful he wasn't one of the military men having to stand sentry in front of the house because he figured he might freeze to death. Claudia and the Professor were huddled together inside the transit van, deep in conversation, and since Connor recognised three's a crowd, his only real choice was to stay inside the house.

The house with all the hungry soldiers inside. A whole houseful of people angry with him because the food still hadn't arrived. Not that he was responsible for the food getting stuck in traffic behind an accident, but Connor sensed that everyone still blamed him for their hunger.

And like the soldiers, he was starving, too. Having an empty stomach was making the stench of the blood really start to get to him, and he began to understand why Claudia had looked so queasy earlier.

Connor sighed, wishing he hadn't come after all. Right now he could be sitting on a couch, well-rested, eating pizza and racking up some good gear with Duncan; instead, he was tired, cold, and hungry, surrounded by people who were all annoyed with him! This was so not worth it.

Since most of the military men were gathered in the parlor, at the ready in case anything, or anybody, came through the anomaly, Connor wandered into the gaming room. Near the demolished billiard table was a display of designer pool cues, but the rest of the walls were decorated with painted cricket bats. Taking a closer look, he noticed that several of the bats had topless girls on them, similar to the framed pin-ups in the master bedroom. For the most part, there didn't seem to be any sense of theme to what the owner collected, but Connor could certainly get behind these.

"Hey, Connor." Abby's voice made him jump, instantly feeling guilty that she'd caught him staring at the bats. He turned towards her as she began, "Do you happen to know-?"

"When the food'll be here?" Connor finished for her, frustrated that she was going to give him grief, too. "No, I don't know. Hopefully soon."

"Easy, Connor." Abby flashed him a sympathetic smile. "That's not what I was going to ask."

"Oh." Connor felt instantly guilty for having snapped at her.

"I was going to ask if you know if that's an erythristic badger? I don't think I've ever seen one before, outside of books, I mean, but I can't imagine it's any other species."

Connor had no idea what she was talking about. "Badger?"

"Badgers?" Stephen repeated in a bad Mexican accent from across the room. "We don't need no stinking badgers."

Everyone in the room laughed. This annoyed Connor to no end - how come everyone got Stephen's references yet they never got any of his?

Abby, still smiling at Stephen's joke, turned back to Connor, gesturing with a nod of her head, "The badger."

Connor turned and suddenly found himself eye to eye with a snarling animal. Jumping back, Connor instinctively grabbed one of the cricket bats off the wall, ready for battle.

"Easy, Connor! It's stuffed!" Abby said, jumping between him and the creature.

Connor lowered the bat and stared at the reddish animal atop the display cabinet. "Where did that come from?"

Abby laughed. "It's been here this entire time - didn't you notice it?"

Connor shook his head, feeling ridiculous - leave it to him to pick a fight with a hunting trophy!

"So let's try this again, shall we?" Abby asked. "Do you know if that's an erythristic badger?"

Now that Connor knew what she was asking, he was actually able to answer. "Yeah, its body definitely looks like a badger," he said, studying the taxidermied animal, "and the weird reddish pigmentation would certainly explain why it doesn't look like the Hufflepuff coat of arms."

"Hufflepuff?" Abby asked blankly.

Connor gave a frustrated sigh. "C'mon, Abby, don't tell me you aren't familiar with the Hogwarts Houses?" She shook her head somewhat apologetically, causing him to grin. "Then I seriously think I see a _Harry Potter_ marathon in our near future."

"I could probably be talked into that," Abby said with a smile. "Are there badgers in it?"

"In _Harry Potter_? Are you kidding?" But he could tell by her expression that she wasn't. "Just...never mind," he finished with another sigh.

But Abby had more important things on her mind. Lowering her voice, she confidentially asked him, "Do you know what we're doing for toilets round here tonight?"

Connor pointed, saying, "There's a toilet right across the hall."

Abby shook her head. "But we can't use that, can we? I mean, it's not our house - I doubt they'll want us using their facilities."

Connor hadn't really thought about it before, but Abby had a point. And now that she mentioned it, Connor realised he needed to go as well.

"I'll go look into it," Connor said, eliciting a grateful, "Thank you," from Abby.

Connor wasn't quite sure who to ask. Claudia, Cutter, and Captain Ryan seemed to be the main people in charge, but they were all around at the front of the house, and Connor didn't feel like going outside if he didn't have to. Instead, he went into the parlor and sidled up to Knightley, the vegan soldier who, despite his muscles, seemed like a nice enough guy.

"Hey, mate," Connor began.

"Hey, yourself - is the food here yet?"

Connor had momentarily forgotten that everyone was mad at him. "Um...no, not yet. But that's not...see, I wondering - what are we doing for toilets tonight?"

"The great outdoors not good enough for you?" Apparently hunger made the normally affable soldier surly.

"No, I'm...uh...fine with that...for meself. But...uh...what about...the girls?" Connor asked self-consciously, not wanting to give away Abby's identity directly.

Of course, subtlety had never been Connor's strong point, and Knightley immediately glanced towards the other room. "Blondie needs to wee, huh? Why didn't you say so? Tell her we've got Shewees in the van she can use."

"Shewees?" Connor repeated blankly.

"Yeah, it's this portable device so girls can pee standing up. The Captain'll get one for her. My girlfriend swears by them - easy as pie to use, she says, and much better than squatting in the woods. She got poison ivy on her bum that way once - squatted right over it on a camping trip. 'Never again,' she says and goes out the next day and buys a Shewee. Blondie should get her own - my girlfriend totally carries hers in her handbag all the time, just in case, you know?"

"Uh huh. Thanks, mate," Connor said, trying to politely extricate himself from the awkward conversation about the soldier's girlfriend's weeing habits. He then hurried over to Abby, letting her know, "I've got good news and bad news."

"Bad news first, always!"

Connor was pleased with her choice because he hadn't really thought it through and realised telling her about the Shewee straightaway wouldn't have made much sense. "We have to go outside."

Abby groaned. "That's what I was afraid of. So what's the good news?"

"They have some...uh...device that you can use to wee standing up. I think you just hold it-"

Abby stopped him before he got any further. "That's okay, Connor. No need to demonstrate. I'm not THAT desperate...not yet, anyway."

"Well, I am," Connor said, heading for the door. "I'll...uh...be right back."

He hurried out the sliding door, not wanting to let too much of the cold air into the house. It was even colder than he'd remembered, and he wanted to be quick and get back inside as soon as possible. However, he wondered where exactly he should go. He didn't want to go anywhere around the perimeter of the house because there was a chance of someone...well, Abby...running into him. Instead, he headed off into the dark field in back of the house, realising too late that he hadn't thought to ask Abby for her torch.

There was a fence running parallel to the house, and Connor followed it along till he found a stile, which he scurried over. He then walked through the field, marvelling at the strange sort of night sensory overload. He was far enough from the lights of the house that his eyes were adjusting to the moonless night, and he was amazed at the sheer number of stars shining down on him from the cloudless sky.

Without the traffic noise of the city, Connor expected the night to be silent, but instead the darkness was filled with the churring of an insect night chorus. This amazing anthem of nature was periodically interrupted by the rush of the cold wind, making Connor's teeth chatter. A strange honking, like that of a goose, was heard regularly from off to the east, as was the gurgling from the fountain on the back porch. But there was another sound, one that he couldn't quite recognise, that seemed to be coming from straight ahead.

He slowed his forward motion as he tried to determine the source of this last sound. It was definitely from an animal, and Connor wondered if some creature had come through the anomaly after all. He eventually made out the silhouette of a pair of horns, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Leave it to him to blithely parade through a bull's pasture! But squinting through the darkness, he made out a second pair of horns, and then a third and a fourth. These weren't bulls, Connor realised - they were Highland cows, already sleeping for the night, and their collective steady breathing created the animal lullaby he'd heard through the still air.

"Sorry to disturb you, ladies," Connor whispered, tiptoeing around the sleeping herd till he was in a clear space. Glancing back, he decided that he was far enough away from the house not to be seen, so he quickly unzipped his fly and relieved himself.

Turning back towards the house, he took a step and immediately felt the ground squish beneath him. From the smell rising from his trainer, he knew he'd stepped in a fresh pile of muck. He moved on, trying to rub his shoe along the ground to rub off what he could, but the smell stayed with him. He didn't want to traipse it into the house but didn't feel he had much choice...until he remembered the garden hose he'd kept tripping over in the dark. Connor hurried over to the side of the house, picked up the hose, and followed it to the faucet. He turned the water on, shivering as its icy cold spray soaked his shoe. Once he was satisfied that his trainer was clean enough and the smell was all but gone, he shut off the water and hurried back into the house.

Which was now empty except for one lone soldier standing guard in front of the anomaly.

"Where...?" Connor began, looking completely confused.

"The food's here," the soldier said, clearly annoyed that he'd been the one assigned to stand sentry whilst everyone else went to eat.

Connor didn't need to hear more. He bolted out of the house and around to the front, tripping yet again over the garden hose, which he'd left stretched across the pavement. After having been out in the dark field, the bright light from the transit van seemed almost blinding, but he quickly made his way over to it.

"Connor, there you are," Claudia said as he ran up. "We wondered where you'd gone."

"Sorry, I was...uh...seeing to nature." He pushed his way past the others into the transit van, where Captain Ryan was calling out the food items.

"Here," Connor said, pulling out his notepad, "I've got the list."

Ryan shook his head. "We don't need it. Beanburger!" he called out, holding up a wrapped sandwich.

Glancing at his list, Connor said, "That's for Knightley." But before his words were even out, the soldier was already there, grabbing his burger and a bag of chips from off the counter.

"Wimpy Classic!" Ryan called out, and two people stepped into the aisle of the van.

"With or without bacon?" Goldman asked, and Ryan glanced at the wrapping.

Connor realised he and his list weren't really needed - everyone was eager to grab their own food, and Ryan had a streamlined system going. Tucking his notepad away again, Connor waited for his own sandwich to be called. He then went to grab his bag of chips and realised that there weren't any left - either they'd messed up the order or someone had taken a bag that wasn't theirs. He sighed, disappointed that he hadn't gotten what he'd ordered, despite being the one "in charge." But the food smellt delicious anyway, and he quickly tucked into his burger.

"Not in here, you don't," Ryan said, shooing Connor down the aisle.

"Are you kidding?" Connor asked, his mouth full of burger.

Ryan nodded, clearing everyone from the transit van and shutting the door behind them. "No eating inside. It's policy."

Back out in the chilly night air with his wet shoe on his foot and his icy drink in his hand, Connor couldn't help but shiver. He hoped they could perhaps eat in the house instead, but since everyone else was huddled around outside in a group, he guessed this wasn't an option. At least his burger was warm - if there was a bright side to the food fiasco, at least the traffic jam had occurred BEFORE they'd picked up the food.

"What's that noise?" Claudia asked, stealing a chip from Cutter, her queasiness clearly abated.

At first Connor couldn't hear anything besides the hungry soldiers eating, but eventually he recognised the honking noise he'd heard earlier.

Shrugging, he answered, "I wondered that meself. Some kind of goose, maybe?"

Stephen shook his head. "It's definitely not water fowl."

"Abby would know," Connor said. Since Abby knew everything about animals, he wouldn't mind if she contradicted him, but having Stephen do so was frustrating.

The Professor laughed. "It's not an animal at all. Listen."

Connor stopped his chewing and concentrated on the noise. It still sounded like a goose to him, but he began to notice that the sound had a regular pattern to it.

"It's repeating at a specific interval," Claudia observed.

"It's a windmill," Stephen said, figuring it out a split second before Connor did.

Now clearly able to hear the metallic screeching, Connor felt stupid, which, along with the cold, wasn't helping his mood. He wondered why Abby hadn't commented and then realised that she wasn't there. In fact, she wasn't standing anywhere about. He got that nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach again and started wandering off from the crowd, searching for her. She wasn't in the lighted area in front of the house where everyone else was gathered, so he roamed around the edge of the transit van, waiting a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark before he continued.

Away from the others and their chatting, he heard a familiar noise - the motor of the Mini. Connor walked over to where Abby's car was parked and flung open the passenger door. "Here's where you've been hiding."

"Connor, shut the door! You're letting the heat out!"

Connor instantly did as he was told, slamming the door quickly before his brain had a chance to process what she'd said.

Heat!

Connor opened the door a second time and quickly climbed into the passenger seat, shutting the door behind him. He shoved his icy drink into the cup holder and then held his fingerless-gloved hands up to the vent, revelling in the heated air that was pouring out!

"Ahh - that feels so good!" he said, truly warm for the first time in hours.

"I know - doesn't it?'" Abby said. "I was just too cold to stay outside anymore, but I didn't want to make a big deal about it, you know?" She flashed him an embarrassed smile as she admitted, "I didn't want Stephen to think I was..."

"Wimpy?" Connor said with a grin, holding up his hamburger.

Abby laughed. "Exactly." She popped a chip into her mouth before adding, "Good job, by the way, with the food."

"Don't rub it in," Connor said, not in the mood to be mocked.

"I'm serious, Connor," she said, putting a friendly hand on his knee. "You did a good job. Most people would've just randomly ordered stuff and let everyone fend for themselves to find something they liked. But you actually cared about what people wanted to eat and tried to please everybody."

"And wound up starving everyone instead."

"The traffic jam wasn't your fault. Just don't worry about it - once everyone's eaten, they'll forget all about being angry with you. Besides, starvation is the ultimate appetiser." She held up her half-eaten sandwich with a grin. "I seriously think this is the best burger I've ever eaten!"

Connor laughed. Things might not have gone perfectly tonight, but this was definitely making up for it. Being here in the warm car with Abby was way more fun than raiding with Duncan!

A sudden knock on the window made them both jump. Connor let out a frustrated sigh when he saw who it was.

Abby, however, quickly rolled down her window. "Hey, Stephen, what's up?"

"The anomaly just closed," he said.

"Really?" Connor asked, trying to strain his head around but realising the transit van completely blocked their view of the front porch. He was disappointed - it wasn't that he'd wanted anyone to get hurt, but a little excitement would've been nice. They hadn't really accomplished a thing by coming here; it totally hadn't been worth giving up his kip merely to stand around for hours, making everyone mad at him.

Stephen nodded. "Cutter said you guys were welcome to go on home if you want. We'll stick around to pack up."

"You sure?" Abby asked, though she didn't sound quite as disappointed as Connor thought she might.

"Absolutely. You two go on home, and we'll see you later." He gave a wave as he walked away.

Abby immediately rolled up the window, muttering, "Thank goodness." Connor gave her a look and she explained. "Remember how I said I wasn't that desperate before? Well, I stupidly just drank a lemonade, and now I am!" As Abby turned on the headlights and started to pull down the driveway, she added under her breath, "I'm stopping at the first petrol station I see."

"Actually, I know a great coffee place that's open late. It's just on our way back, and they have the best cappucci-"

Abby held up her hand. "Don't mention more liquids right now, Connor, please!"

Connor was disappointed - a hot coffee was just what he needed after such a cold evening.

Abby must've sensed his mood for she flashed him a smile across the dark car. "Just wait till after the petrol station, alright? Then a cappuccino would sound perfect. You can give me directions, yeah?"

"Absolutely!"

As the soldier at the end of the drive held up the yellow tape for them to drive under, Connor smiled, thinking about the late night coffee he was soon going to be sharing with Abby.

Tonight had definitely been worth coming for after all.

THE END


End file.
